MAPUSA
Amid the clamour for the Gandhi scion to take up the lead role in the All India Congress Committee (AICC), Goa Congress on Tuesday passed a resolution that Rahul Gandhi should be unanimously elected to the top post of the party.
The resolution was passed in a meeting attended by the PCC delegates who vote in the Congress President’s election, including Member of Parliament Francisco Sardinha, who proposed the resolution, GPCC President Amit Patkar and other senior leaders.
“He (Rahul Gandhi) has pre-eminent place in the party and is acknowledged leader of rank and file in Congress. He has been relentlessly and fearlessly fighting against the wrong policies and communal agenda of the forces who are trying to destroy the unity and secular fabric of the country. His message of harmony, kindness and inclusiveness has been lauded by all,” the resolution said.
In another resolution, the State party unit has also unanimously decided to authorise AICC President to nominate the State PCC President, all executive committee members including Vice Presidents, Treasurer, Pradesh Election Committee, AICC members and co-opted members from the State.
The meeting of newly elected PCC delegates was held at the Congress House, Panaji, where Mohan Joshi, the Pradesh Returning Officer for Goa, presided. GPCC President Amit Patkar, MP Francisco Sardinha and Senior Vice President M K Shaikh were present.
While a handout released by the party said PCC delegates gave valuable suggestions for the revival of the Congress party in Goa, sources informed that out of the 38 PCC delegates, most including the three MLAs, were not present for the meeting.
Besides Goa, several other states have passed similar resolutions stating that Rahul Gandhi should be unanimously elected as the AICC chief.
The election, if necessary, for the party’s full-time president will be held on October 17 and the counting of votes and the declaration of results would be on October 19.
The notification for the election will be issued on September 22 while filing of nomination would begin on September 24 and continue till September 30.
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Cong rewards those who work against
party: Former Cong MLA
MAPUSA: Former MLA and a critique of Congress, Agnelo Fernandes, said Aldona MLA Carlos Ferreira should ideally have been the CLP leader but the central party leadership has followed the usual pattern and decided to reward someone who worked against the interest of the party in the past.
Stating that Congress has strange criteria to give any positions within the party, he said “one criteria is that you have to be very rich where you can pay up…Second is that you should not be in Congress for long and the third is that you should work against the party some time or the other.”
“Yuri Alemao fits the bill perfectly. He was in the Goa Forward Party before he joined the Congress on the eve of the elections. He was also in the NCP before that. He has been duly rewarded,” Fernandes said.
He said the party has a president from South Goa and the CLP leader should have been from the North.
“Carlos is a learned person and has been doing a lot of work for the Congress party in the past. I don’t know where Congress is heading but this decision on the CLP leader has gone on expected lines,” he said.
